Red dirt, miles and miles and miles of red dirt, it is the state of Utah. Good thing I’m not a white Shepard or Samoyed, though I have been called a ‘cinnamon lab’ by a nice guy in Moab. He also said that I had a big ‘brain bump’ and so he could tell how smart I was. He got no arguments from me; I rather like being called a smart, cinnamon anything! Now remember, friend Valda is traveling with us and she is sorta in charge of where we go and what we see. She is doing a ‘memory trip’ thing in honor of her late husband Harold and all of the holiday trips they used to make into the Red Rock desert country. We think it is really special that she wants to share these memories with the three of us and I vowed I would be right by her side to help her over the hard parts of remembering with lots of hugs, licks, drools, adoring stares plus food sharing. We have already been to Mesa Verde in Colorado and I learned Valda really likes to go for walks, several times a day, which is great by me.
We drove out of Moab and up to Arches National Park for the start of our Colorado Plateau adventures. Until now we have really only been in basaltic granite mountain regions with conifer forests and lakes; my kind of country. Then we went through those beautiful semi-arid areas in southwestern Colorado and Mesa Verde which gave us a hint of the change in the landscape we were about to experience but wow, this is really dramatic! Now we are in a seemingly alien landscape of sculpted rock, boasting the greatest density of natural arches in the world. More than 2000 cataloged arches ranging in size from 3 feet to 306 feet.
Cokie and Valda decided one day to hike up to Delicate Arch, a mere three mile trip, some of it on their hands and knees! The whole idea was to capture the arch at sunset, which you can see they did. Unfortunately, dear Cokie and Valda were far too tired and hungry when they got back to even think about going for a walk. They had met lots of nice fun folk up on the rock, took loads of pictures and felt very proud of each other. I know I could have made that hike too and made a lot of new friends if the d--- Park Service would just let us canine critters out and about on the trails! (Oh there I go again. I am wondering if there anyone out there willing to set up a ‘Free the Pets in Parks’ lobby for me?) 
Out of Arches and south to Newspaper Rock State Park, an incredible gallery of pictographs and petroglyphs; messages and information left by ancient peoples to guide and inform travelers, gatherers and hunters who came after them. Now the ages have passed and much of the subtle meaning and message has vanished along with the mysterious Puebloans who chipped and painted these symbols. I certainly can’t figure out what it all meant, so I did what I know best – I chased rabbits! What a great time I had! I really don’t know if the gals had a good time or not all I do know is that we had to leave far too soon!
On the way we encountered a scene right out of the Old West – cowboys driving a herd of horses, maybe mustangs – right down the middle of the road! They were oh so polite and so were we (me, in particular!) so as not to spook the animals. It was a step back in time in this timeless territory.
Okay, on to Canyonlands National Park, wild country with few paved roads and 527 square miles of rock wilderness in the heart of the Colorado Plateau. Here the flat sedimentary rock has been carved into hundreds of canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches and spires. There are basically two canyons carved by the Green and the Colorado Rivers, with three distinct areas: Island in the Sky, Needles and The Maze. Island in the Sky is a broad mesa wedged between the two rivers and offering vistas of nearly the entire wilderness for 100 miles to the horizon and is over 2000 feet deep to the bottom of some of the canyon cliffs. The Maze is ranked as one of the most remote regions in the US and is a 30 square mile puzzle in sandstone. Since the roads are four-wheel only we did not ask The Pod to ‘suck it up’ and try to take us out there. But we did go to parts of the Needles where there are really sculpted rocks and spires all banded in red and white sandstone. There are also meadows and arches and more four-wheel drive roads.
We headed out of the park and down to Bluff to spend the night and try to sleep through a really scary thunder and lightning storm. I’ll tell you that little Valda is a whole lot braver than I am; she actually stayed out in the tent all night. Not me! I was very safe with my Cokie and Kae in the great Tempurpedic bed!
Monument Valley was Valda’s next request, so off we went. This valley is on the Navajo Indian Reservation and is run by the Tribe. It has Valda’s favorite gift shop – Guldens, filled with the good, the bad and the ugly of Indian art, plus a nice restaurant with great leftovers for a patient pup. The valley is quite a wild ride through wide open spaces over rough dirt roads to see the various pillars, columns and bluffs. You also have views of the Indian hogans and rough fenced corrals at many of the small farms and ranches; evidence of the unchanged ways of these indigenous peoples. There is a range of mountains here that has such bizarre geological strata they look like the patterns in a Navaho blanket. (Suppose it has something to do with people who have revered mountains for millennium?) The names of the various formations are interesting too: Right and Left Mitten, Mexican Hat, Eternal Flame, just to name a few. Of course every one of these Parks has their own set of specials names for particular formations based on shapes, histories or individual preferences; it is part of what makes them so interesting to visit.
Unfortunately for all of us, Valda now has to think about returning to home and work in California so we started winding our way south and east to Phoenix. We decided to stop for a day in Sedona, so I’ll include that adventure in another journal on Arizona.
Well, we left Wyoming and drove into Colorado headed straight for Denver to see friends Monta and Don, but the gals got to looking at the National Parks book and discovered a great sounding place called Rocky Mountain National Park. It was only 35 miles west of Denver and would have some trees and rocks and water for all of us to appreciate after all those miles of prairie in Wyoming. So they called Monta and told her we would arrive a day or two later and we turned west. Estes Park was this yuppie, touristy, very expensive little town we drove through just outside of RMNP. You could smell the money just passing by! We found out the affordable campground in the park was full so back we went to Estes Park and found a funky place outside of town that was steep, all dirt, and dirt cheap. It was after dark so we were grateful but had to inch our way up a hill and into a very small spot. I’m sorry to report my Podhouse did get a crack in its rear bumper, nothing duct tape and Gorilla Glue can’t fix, the gals say. Next day we headed up Old Fall River Road, first road built in this park way back when and it was a fun, switch-back filled, gravel and dirt adventure. Kae did some tricky maneuvers to get the Pod around some switchbacks and over some ruts but there were spectacular mountain vistas, alpine meadows and lakes, fall colors and the tundra at over 12,000’ elevation. I saw and smelled so much wildlife; we photographed elk herds with bull elk in full rut, many birds and strange colorful high alpine plants. It was rich and wonderful. We stayed a day longer and then headed for the old part of Denver.
Don and Monta recently bought a fine 1880’s Victorian, 3 story, brick and stone house in one of the older, gracious parts of Denver. Unfortunately there was no room on the street for the somewhat broad Pod to park for a week so we moved into the alley. Now alley RVing is a whole different trip! There are things that go on in the night that even I don’t want to know about but it really worked out pretty well and helped me practice my guard dog postures. Don and Monta have a nice back yard (with a fun frisky squirrel) and a big deck so I got to spend lots of time there. I liked the fact that they were good hosts and great chefs and I could help with the cleanup. Monta was gracious enough to drive us around so we saw several interesting places in Denver such as the Botanical Gardens, the October fest celebration and fine old parks and architecture. My favorite spot was the Cherry Creek State Park. This was a place where I could be let off leash and run and swim and just be crazy to my old Lab heart’s content. I love the gals for thinking of me like they do. Of course I think my ‘guilt trip’ routine works pretty good too. I get to get out and swim or run pretty darn often even though there are so many regulations about pets on leashes and only on certain trails, etc., etc., etc. Somebody in the National Park Service should get a life and a few more dogs! We all went for a long ride up into the mountains on the weekend, this time more south and west to a sweet little town where D & M used to own a house and some acreage. We dropped in on some old neighbor friends of theirs and had a great lunch in a beautiful country atmosphere away from the big city. I sensed D & M sorta wished they still had the mountain house; I know I would. We drove all over and saw more terrain, fall colors just starting and lots of quaint little towns tucked into the folds and valleys, each with its own flavor, flowers and atmosphere. Colorado is very diverse in its scenery.
The next day we drove to the Denver Airport to pick up our friend Valda, who was coming for 10 days to travel with us. Remember we have that nifty guest bedroom tent setup for friends. Valda is a great gal and I can tell you she knows how to treat an old dog; she made sure I got my walks or runs in at least once every day. Valda likes to exercise and I do too, so we had a ball together. The four of us left for Greeley, CO. to visit a mutual friend, Michele and her partner, Valerie, and their fun kids, plus two great dogs – Frankie and Jenny, some “scaredy cats” and a funny smelling thing called a guinea pig named Tribbles. We had a fun few days there and enjoyed ourselves completely. Truth is I think I fell in love sorta with Jenny. But Frankie was sort of a pain in the b---, if you know what I mean. That guy hung around all the time, so to speak; I could hardly walk anywhere.
We left Greeley and turned the Pod toward the Four Corners region, south and west out through the plains, mesas, passes, past little western towns like Poncha Springs, Gunnison, Ridgeway, Ouray, Purgatory, heading for Mesa Verde NP. Cokie said she thought the colors were amazing around Ouray and environs with the quaking aspens, pines, rocks, bushes and mountains; at one spot even the river was yellow! I just know that there is nothing that smells like fall; you can actually taste the tang of the yellows and oranges in the air if you know how to draw them in across your tongue and roll them around your molars and up into your sinuses. If there is any color at all in the area where you are right now I highly recommend that you take a moment, step outside, pull the colors in through all of your senses and savor the flavors. 
Mesa Verde, now what a place that turned out to be! I never thought 7000+ feet in elevation could be so warm, so dry and so dang different! I did have to spend a lot of time in the Pod but I got to sit in the driver’s seat and lots of folks stopped by to talk to me. I spotted some of the local wildlife and I got to smell and taste all of the great odors of that ancient place. I could just imagine the hustle and bustle of the everyday life of the Anasazi, now called “the First People” or Puebloans. What amazing places they left for us to try to decipher and preserve and what a mystery it all remains. The gals hiked down and around a number of the ruins with intriguing names like Cliff Palace, Balcony House, Spruce Tree House and Square Tower House. They climbed down ladders into kivas and up ladders to the mesa tops, followed stone steps cut into cliff faces and crawled through hand-hewn tunnels, listened to Park Rangers lecture and the silence of the sandstone. We all watched the changing weather which was spectacular with great storms rolling across the mesas casting sunset colors that almost made you weep with their beauty.
Cliff Palace
Balcony House Window
Spruce Tree House
Balcony House Ladder
Spruce Tree Kiva
Tweedle Dum & Tweedle Dee
Square Tower House
Now it’s on to the Canyonlands, Island in the Sky, Needles, Monument Valley and all the great red rock areas. Hope you enjoy the marvelous pictures the gals have been taken and there are hundreds more!
Cokie and Valda decided one day to hike up to Delicate Arch, a mere three mile trip, some of it on their hands and knees! The whole idea was to capture the arch at sunset, which you can see they did. Unfortunately, dear Cokie and Valda were far too tired and hungry when they got back to even think about going for a walk. They had met lots of nice fun folk up on the rock, took loads of pictures and felt very proud of each other. I know I could have made that hike too and made a lot of new friends if the d--- Park Service would just let us canine critters out and about on the trails! (Oh there I go again. I am wondering if there anyone out there willing to set up a ‘Free the Pets in Parks’ lobby for me?) 
Out of Arches and south to Newspaper Rock State Park, an incredible gallery of pictographs and petroglyphs; messages and information left by ancient peoples to guide and inform travelers, gatherers and hunters who came after them. Now the ages have passed and much of the subtle meaning and message has vanished along with the mysterious Puebloans who chipped and painted these symbols. I certainly can’t figure out what it all meant, so I did what I know best – I chased rabbits! What a great time I had! I really don’t know if the gals had a good time or not all I do know is that we had to leave far too soon!
On the way we encountered a scene right out of the Old West – cowboys driving a herd of horses, maybe mustangs – right down the middle of the road! They were oh so polite and so were we (me, in particular!) so as not to spook the animals. It was a step back in time in this timeless territory.
Okay, on to Canyonlands National Park, wild country with few paved roads and 527 square miles of rock wilderness in the heart of the Colorado Plateau. Here the flat sedimentary rock has been carved into hundreds of canyons, mesas, buttes, fins, arches and spires. There are basically two canyons carved by the Green and the Colorado Rivers, with three distinct areas: Island in the Sky, Needles and The Maze. Island in the Sky is a broad mesa wedged between the two rivers and offering vistas of nearly the entire wilderness for 100 miles to the horizon and is over 2000 feet deep to the bottom of some of the canyon cliffs. The Maze is ranked as one of the most remote regions in the US and is a 30 square mile puzzle in sandstone. Since the roads are four-wheel only we did not ask The Pod to ‘suck it up’ and try to take us out there. But we did go to parts of the Needles where there are really sculpted rocks and spires all banded in red and white sandstone. There are also meadows and arches and more four-wheel drive roads.
We headed out of the park and down to Bluff to spend the night and try to sleep through a really scary thunder and lightning storm. I’ll tell you that little Valda is a whole lot braver than I am; she actually stayed out in the tent all night. Not me! I was very safe with my Cokie and Kae in the great Tempurpedic bed!
Monument Valley was Valda’s next request, so off we went. This valley is on the Navajo Indian Reservation and is run by the Tribe. It has Valda’s favorite gift shop – Guldens, filled with the good, the bad and the ugly of Indian art, plus a nice restaurant with great leftovers for a patient pup. The valley is quite a wild ride through wide open spaces over rough dirt roads to see the various pillars, columns and bluffs. You also have views of the Indian hogans and rough fenced corrals at many of the small farms and ranches; evidence of the unchanged ways of these indigenous peoples. There is a range of mountains here that has such bizarre geological strata they look like the patterns in a Navaho blanket. (Suppose it has something to do with people who have revered mountains for millennium?) The names of the various formations are interesting too: Right and Left Mitten, Mexican Hat, Eternal Flame, just to name a few. Of course every one of these Parks has their own set of specials names for particular formations based on shapes, histories or individual preferences; it is part of what makes them so interesting to visit.
